| Abstract Detail
Recent Topics Posters Chin, Siew Wai [1]. The Old World Pygeum in Prunus (Rosaceae): Reexamination from phylogenetic analysis. The former Old World Pygeum has been reduced to Prunus subgenus Laurocerasus subsection Mesopygeum by Kalkman (1965). Pygeum was distinguished from Prunus by its indistinguishable perianth segments of petals and sepals by Koehne (1913). However, Kalkman felt that this difference is “unsharp through overlapping” and this compelled him to reduce the generic status of Pygeum. The classification of species based on morphological characters has been plagued by problems of homoplasy. Several recent phylogenetic analyses within Prunus (Lee & Wen 2001; Bortiri et al. 2001, 2002, 2006) have found that neither Laurocerasus nor Padus is monophyletic. Furthermore, Bortiri et al. (2006) have pointed out that the two subgenera showed extensive homoplasy in their diagnostic characters. Moreover, none of these studies has included representatives of the Pygeum group in the analyses. Phylogenetic analyses of nuclear ITS support a distinct monophyletic Asiatic Pygeum group. In contrast, the position of Pygeum africana is not well resolved, and other members of the subgenus Laurocerasus do not appear to be monophyletic. Moreover, the Padus species examined in this study are nested among the Laurocerasus. The monophyly of Asiatic Pygeum suggests a reexamination of its taxonomic status.
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1 - University of California, Davis, Department of Plant Sciences, Mail Stop 2, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
Keywords: Pygeum Prunus Rosaceae ITS phylogeny Asiatic species.
Presentation Type: Recent Topics Poster Session: P Location: Exhibit Hall (Northeast, Southwest & Southeast)/Hilton Date: Sunday, July 8th, 2007 Time: 8:00 AM Number: P79031 Abstract ID:2696 |